K-Pop Imagines Volume 3: EXO {Closed for Requests}

Kai - The Bookstore (Serious, kind of funny, cute)

Imagine...

You are currently on your way to the bookstore to return a book for a friend. You make it to the shop and walk in before heading directly to the front desk for assistance. At first, no one shows up, but there is a small, silver bell on the counter, so you ring it.

About a minute later, a young guy walks through the door behind the counter, his dark hair matching and perfectly sun-kissed skin putting you in a trance. He stops moving and looks at you for a few seconds, waiting for you to say something.

"Can I help you?" he asks impatiently, causing you to snap out of it.

"O-Oh..." you stutter nervously and in embarrassment. "Yeah, I-I need to return this." You set the book down on the counter and slide it towards him, the receipt sticking out of the top. He sighs a little and takes the book in his hands before taking out the white piece of paper.

"You didn't like it?" he asks without looking at you, going through the process of putting the book back in the computer system.

"Huh?" you reply in slight confusion.

"The book," he says, glancing at you. "You're returning it so I'm assuming you didn't like it. Why else would someone go through the trouble to return a book they bought?"

"Oh no, I didn't buy it," you say. "My friend did and she just asked me to return it for her since she was busy today."

"Then, she didn't like it?" he says.

"I-I guess so," you say, shrugging your shoulders. "I didn't even know she went to bookstores." He only hums in response, barely giving you a nod of his head. You look away as you shift uncomfortably, your hands placed loosely on the counter top.

"You can go, you know," he says, finally lifting his head and sparing you a look. "You don't need to stand there and make sure I do my job correctly."

"O-Oh right," you say, blinking your eyes immensely. "Um, thank you."

"Yep," he says, letting out another sigh, this one being more annoyed and heavy. You exit the shop, confused as to why he had such an attitude.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, you decide to find out just why a complete stranger acted as if you were his arch nemesis. So, you return to the shop that afternoon with fiery footsteps and all ready to let loose on him for acting like a jerk for no apparent reason.

This time when you walk in, the same guy is leaning on the counter, his brown eyes glued to the brightly phone screen in front of him. You walk up to him and stand there quietly until he notices you.

"You again, huh?" he says, standing up and straightening out his spine. "You should really tell your friend to stop buying books if she is just going to make you return them."

"Have we ever met before?" you ask, totally steering this conversation in another direction.

"What?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Have we ever met before? Did I like do something bad to you in a past life?" you continue, slowly going into full rant mode.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he says. "I've never seen you before in my life and I think I'd remember seeing someone like you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" you ask, only earning a silent look from him. "You know what, forget that. I didn't come here to return a book or even buy one."

"Well, this is a bookstore," he says. "That's usually what you do at one of these."

"Why are you acting so rude to me?" you say, finally getting to the point. "We've never met and I sure as hell didn't do anything to piss you off yesterday. So why are you acting like I killed your whole family?"

"One, if you did kill my whole family, we would be in court right now, me trying to get you the longest jail sentence possible as payback," he starts. "And two, I'm always like this. You were lucky enough to have met the most unpeople like person in the world yesterday. So, that's why I'm acting like a jerk."

"Well, that's not a very good attitude to have, considering how many people you are going to meet in your life," you say.

"Yeah, but you see," he says, shifting a little, "it's just too hard to hate individual people because there are so many people to hate, so I just say I hate everyone. It makes my life a little bit easier and saves my breath."

"And you are all about making your life easier, huh?"

"You bet," he says, leaning against the bookshelf with his arms crossed over his chest. "Plus, you returned a book. I hate people who return books."

"But it wasn't even my book," you say. "I didn't even buy it."

"Yeah, but you still returned it," he says. "I mean, that's like someone adopting a kid and then having their friend tell the orphanage to take him back. You're still crushing his dreams of having a family and a home; it doesn't matter who gave them to him in the first place."

"So you're saying I crushed a book's dreams by doing my friend a favor?" you say with narrowed eyes.

"I read that book after you left yesterday," he says, taking his back off the bookshelf and reaching down before pulling out the book. "It was really good. So, I bought it and I don't plan on returning it."

"Well, that's good for you, but she didn't want it, so she gave it back," you say.

"Just like those parents didn't want that poor child, so they gave him back to the orphanage," he says, his eyebrows now raised. You sigh and roll your eyes, now completely annoyed by him. "I'll tell you what, if you want me to forgive you and act like a somewhat nice person, you'll have to go out with me this Friday night and listen to me rant and go into great detail about all the reasons I hate people," he says.

"Are you crazy?" you say. "Why would I want someone like you to forgive me?"

"Because you realize that that book you returned is just like a child and now you feel like shit inside because you know people do that actual people," he says, earning a blank stare from you. "So, do we have a deal or are you just gonna live with the fact that you are probably the most inhumane person on the planet?"

"Only if you promise to never speak to me again afterwards," you say.

"The only way I will promise that is if you promise to never return a book again," he replies, a faint smirk on his lips. You sigh in defeat, closing your eyes and not in the mood to keep this going.

"Fine," you say, throwing your hands in the air a little. "I'll go out with you this Friday night."

"And so will I," he says, smiling victoriously. You scuff at him and then head for the door. "You know, they say that all great relationships sprout from hate and that sometimes you have to act like a dick to get people to love you," he says, making you stop in tracks and turn around. You look at his fully smiling face in disbelief as he chuckles. A few seconds later, he turns around and heads back through the door.

"I can't believe him," you say to yourself, shaking your head. "That jerk."